| Flood protection for Safety Center gets a price tag |
By: JIM HAMMERAND, Staff Writer
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Posted: Friday, August 28, 2009 11:40 pm
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FEMA would require a third of a million dollars in flood protection work should the city choose to remodel at the Safety Center's current location.
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NORTHFIELD — Holding floodwaters back from the Safety Center could cost as much as $379,000, according to a draft of an engineering report to be released next week.
The Federal Emergency Management Administration requires flood protection improvements to be made to the Cannon River-side building at Highway 3 and Fifth Street if the city remodels or expands the facility to accommodate the city’s growing public safety needs.
Essentially, any improvement project that costs at least half of the property’s $1.8 million market value would trigger the requirement. The building’s lowest floor is almost 4 feet below the 100-year flood elevation against which FEMA requires protection.
A levee and floodwall around the building’s perimeter could cost as much as $322,000, including a system to pump water out.
For $320,000 to $379,000, the city could raise the parking lot and seal exterior access to the lowest level, which could only be used for temporary activities or those with a low potential of flood damage.
Another proposal, expected to cost around $295,000, would retrofit that floor with flood-resistant materials and let flood waters “inundate” the temporary-use space, according to the report.
Such an approach would preserve the river view, but require “substantial cleanup” after floods.
Under the least expensive option, estimated at between $132,0000 and $192,000, the city would abandon use of the building’s lower level.
The report’s author, a private engineer, did not return a call seeking comment.
Ray Cox, a member of the Safety Center Task Force that explored ways to resize the city’s public safety facilities, has recommended remodeling the safety center building as the least expensive option, even taking flood mitigation costs into account.
“I’m surprised it’s that low,” he said. “My point on the whole thing is you’ve got a 40-year-old building that has a lot of life in it. If you just have to raise the parking lot and do a little floodwall work … I think that’s a very viable option.”
But Police Chief Mark Taylor said he still supports the task force-recommended construction of a new, joint public safety building at one of two sites near Highway 3. He said remodeling the Safety Center would be a massive undertaking with little gain in utility or space.
“You’re losing quite a bit of square footage if you can’t use the basement. That’s the real downfall of that (proposal),” Taylor said. “The issue is you’d be basically gutting the building inside and starting over. It’s not a cheap fix.”
The city estimates new digs for the fire and police departments would cost $10.4 million, not including any land purchases. City Administrator Joel Walinski said negotiations were under way with the owners of Cannon Valley Co-op, at 1480 Highway 3, and a five-acre site southeast of Riverview Drive and Cannon Road, but that he had not yet received appraisals of the land.
New estimates show remodeling the building for continued police use would cost about $4.2 million, while expanding and remodeling the building would cost about $4.6 million. A separate fire hall would cost around $5 million, plus the cost of land acquisition or demolition costs if it were built on the Safety Center site.
Walinski said securing federal, state and local permits for required flood protection work could take up to 15 months, and that inflation and rising construction costs could negate any savings realized by reusing the site.
“The least expensive time to build that building is right now,” Walinski said.
At its Monday work session, the City Council will receive an update on the Safety Center project and discuss reusing and protecting the current building, but won’t take formal action.
View the full report here.
— Jim Hammerand covers the city. He can be reached at jhammerand@northfieldnews.com or 645-1114. |
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